I enjoy reading Amy Chavez's columns! But instead of mocking the small servings and small spaces in Japan — as she does in her Nov. 22 column, "Barely squeezing by in Japan" — she should encourage people to find good restaurants and partake of smaller portions of good food. The small spaces in Japan are inevitable due to high rents. Small portions are great as long as the food is tasty. Better to have small portions of good food than large portions of mediocre or bad food.
Most Americans equate good food to large portions of average food, as in buffets. As an American who lived in Tokyo from 1971 to 1979, I loved eating small portions of very good food versus the American mentality of good food being a large volume of average or mediocre food. That's the reason that America has one of the highest obesity rates in the world.
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